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CU-Boulder won't go private, despite funding cuts: Constitution marries university to the state

By Brittany Anas Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
02/27/2010 02:52:18 PM MST

Updated:
02/27/2010 02:53:27 PM MST

University of Colorado sophomore Jen Berino listens to a question from a fellow student during a "fundamentals of marketing" lecture in the Math 100 classroom on the University of Colorado campus. At CU-Boulder, the amount that Colorado supports its in-state, full-time students has declined 60 percent over the past decade. Without tuition increases, CU s class sizes will continue to swell. The university is lobbying for flexibility that would allow leaders to raise tuition without state caps.
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KASIA BROUSSALIAN
)

In the University of Colorado's infancy, Old Main was the sole campus building -- housing classrooms as well as the living quarters for CU's president and his family.

Pioneers, desiring a college for their children, had scouted out the Boulder land that was hunting grounds for the Arapaho. Determined to establish a college, CU's early supporters lobbied: "Give Boulder the state university, and the rest of Colorado may take all other institutions."

So, CU became chartered in the state constitution in 1877 -- forever setting up a rare relationship between the state government and its flagship university. CU, no matter how much funding it receives from the state, will remain a public university, unless Colorado voters amend the state constitution.

As state funding for the modern university declines to new lows, CU leaders are pushing for measures that would loosen Colorado's reins on the university so that it can stay financially afloat. But some critics of the flexibility measures -- which would allow CU to raise tuition without a state-ordered cap -- call CU's attempts a veiled attempt at privatizing the school.

The state share of CU's $2.6 billion budget is now 3.3 percent, according to Kelly Fox, vice president for budget and finance at CU.

Still, "unless the voters take CU out of the constitution, we will always be a public university, regardless of how many dollars flow into the university," said CU Regent Tom Lucero.

Constitutional constraints

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Eight years ago, during the last economic downturn, Lucero consulted with then-President Betsy Hoffman, suggesting that CU become private.

State funding at that time had fallen below 10 percent, and Lucero argued that CU should be freed from state rules, which govern everything from curriculum to tuition-setting.

Hoffman explored the idea of privatization but became deterred by CU's charter in the constitution, Lucero recounted. He agreed with Hoffman that it wasn't a politically viable solution, Lucero said.

Andrea Miranda, left, Corey Wiggins, center, and Alyssa Bamonti, students at the University of Colorado, hold signs during a rally for affordable tuition on Feb. 17 at the Dalton Trumbo Fountain.
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MARTY CAIVANO
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"Technically, we're the fourth branch of government," Lucero said about CU's nine-member Board of Regents.

At CU-Boulder, the amount that Colorado supports its in-state, full-time students has declined 60 percent over the past decade. In fiscal year 2001, the Boulder campus received $5,078 for each full-time Colorado student it enrolled. That compares with $2,009 this fiscal year.

The majority of that money is used to pay CU employees' salaries, and it helps cover utilities.

Meanwhile, in-state tuition over the past decade has risen 156 percent, from $2,514 to $6,446 in CU's College of Arts and Sciences.

Boulder campus officials prepared a report for accreditors that shows the school ranks No. 48 in the nation for higher-education funding, and low levels of public funding force them to rely on tuition revenue.

Lifeboat for higher education?

CU officials say a package of flexibility legislation will help universities stay open despite shrinking public funds. The legislation would allow colleges and universities to design their own fiscal rules, apart from state regulations -- for example, not requiring oversight on construction projects when they involve no state money.

State law also requires CU to limit the number of non-resident students to one-third of its student body. The flexibility legislation pushes for a change to the law so international students, now tallied as non-residents, are excluded from that cap. CU-Boulder has the smallest number of international students when stacked up with other schools in the American Association of Universities.

The measure would also let CU decide how it should dole out financial aid, not relying on state formulas.

CU is also supporting an idea that would allow public universities to raise their own tuition, a change that Gov. Bill Ritter initially opposed and is now warming up to as he acknowledges the recession's effect on higher education.

Ritter, who received his bachelor's degree at Colorado State University and juris doctorate from CU in 1981, said he graduated with only $5,000 in student-loan debt. He said he's a proponent of affordable, in-state higher education.

CU system spokesman Ken McConnellogue said CU would be responsible if it were given the ability to set its own tuition.

"We have oversight, with an elected Board of Regents," McConnellogue said. "In recent years, they've been pretty tough on tuition increases. They serve as a check and balance, elected by the people of Colorado."

McConnellogue also said CU is below its peers when it comes to tuition rates. The Princeton Review just named CU-Boulder one the best values in the nation.

University leaders say, too, they are proud to be a recognized part of the state.

"We feel like we're a key contributor to the economic, social and cultural health and well-being of the state," he said. "We want to be able to continue that contribution."

Mixed reactions to flexibility proposals

Among the opponents of tuition flexibility is Spencer Watson, a biology and English major at CU. He wears a "question authority" button on his backpack and was among a group of students rallying on the campus for affordable higher education earlier this month.

"I think it's nothing less than morally irresponsible that they would essentially privatize CU," Watson said. "So many people won't be able to afford to get an education."

Ken Bonetti, an academic adviser at CU, said he worries the legislation would turn too much control over to the regents.

"In my view, the university administration and regents would enjoy all of the perks of privatization, with subsidies from the state and without calling it privatization," Bonetti said. "It's de facto privatization."

Boulder campus spokesman Bronson Hilliard said tuition flexibility is not synonymous with privatization.

"It's the desire of the system leadership -- and the regents -- and the campus that we remain a public university," Hilliard said. "We like, and are proud, of our legacy as a public university."

When there are tuition increases, Hilliard said the university invests some of the extra revenue into scholarships for low-income students.

The Boulder Faculty Assembly has not taken an official stance on the flexibility measures. When it comes to tuition flexibility, chairman Joe Rosse said he'd describe the faculty's feelings as "resigned."

"We are not enthusiastic about increased tuition -- I'm a parent of a freshman myself -- but there aren't many options," he said. "Higher ed has absorbed cut after cut the last few years, so there is little room for additional cuts --especially ones that won't affect the quality of education that students receive."

If tuition isn't increased, class sizes will increase more, some will be canceled, and students will suffer even more than they do from increased tuition, he said.

Until Colorado taxpayers invest more in higher education, the burden is going to increasingly shift to students and their parents, he said.

"The big worry among faculty is that families of more modest means will increasingly be unable to attend CU, and that will be a loss for everyone," he said.

Professor Donnie Lichtenstein talks with his teaching assistant Luisa Schrickte, a senior, before the start of a "fundamentals of marketing" lecture at the University of Colorado on Thursday.
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KASIA BROUSSALIAN
)

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